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An Instructed at Zion Episcopal Church By the Reverend Sarah E. Saxe February 12, 2017 (Year A, 6)

Postures

When worshipping God or praying to God, what were the postures of our ancestors – the ancient Hebrews? Today’s reading from Deuteronomy (30:15-20) tells us: We bow down. This posture appears 33 times in the Old Testament. The purpose of the Solemn Bow – bowing at the waist (demonstrate) - is to “acknowledge the sacredness of an object or person.” This morning I not only bowed to the but then I turned and bowed to you, for I believe that each of you is sacred.

Remnants of this Old Testament bow are seen here at Zion: when the symbol of Christ, the cross passes by, we make a solemn bow; when the altar party reverences the altar; at the affirmation of the incarnation during the (make solemn bow, “he came down from heaven…”); and during the first part of the (bow, “Holy Holy Holy Lord…). And people in other churches may bow down before the – the body and .

Another remnant of the ancient Hebrew bow is seen during when, instead of a Blessing, the invites a Solemn by bidding the people to “Bow down before the Lord.” You’ll hear these words in a couple of weeks.

And yet another remnant appears during the reading of the Passion on . A period of silence follows the section where dies. The people may kneel or make a solemn bow during that period. Then the narrator stands and when she resumes reading, the people stand. I believe the tradition here at Zion is to kneel.

(pause)

The Simple Bow evolved from the Solemn Bow. Since we regard Jesus as a sacred person and we believe Jesus is here with us in , some of us may bow our heads every time the name of Jesus is mentioned and on other occasions of reverence (gesture holding up book, “the Holy Gospel of our Lord…”).

So from the ancient Hebrews we inherit the Solemn Bow. Another posture is found 23 times in the Old Testament and 3 times in the Gospels. “He fell on his face…” Including Jesus who fell on his face before God in the garden. (demonstrate)

A remnant of that posture remains to this day in the service. It’s called Prostration. At the start of the Service, after walking down the aisle in silence, the Altar party kneels or prostrates for silent prayer. “After a substantial period of silence, the celebrant alone stands and says the acclamation.” Here at Zion the tradition is for the altar party to kneel, but I attended a church in Cupertino, California where the whole altar party prostrated in silence. It was quite powerful.

So when worshipping God or praying to God, our Hebrew ancestors gave us the Solemn Bow and Prostration. What about our ancestors – the first Christians? The orans position. (demonstration) According to Gail Ramshaw, “The earliest depictions of Christians at prayer show them in the orans position. In the liturgy, the orans is the appropriate gesture for all ” that are said, not sung, by both the and the people. The orans “is a stance of openness and vulnerability to God, as well as a gesture of reaching toward God.”

The Orthodox Church continues to use the orans posture to pray. And many of the Protestant Pentecostal churches do as well.

Why don’t we do that today? Mainly because we can read. For many churches, including ours, the prayers are printed in a book or bulletin which we need to hold while praying.

But have you noticed that the new Prayers of the People are in a responsorial format in which the Intercessor says a petition, concluding with a cue phrase and the people respond with an easy-to-memorize phrase. This encourages us to put down the paper and lift our hands. Perhaps you might consider trying that today.

Furthermore, even though the early Church didn’t stand in the orans position when singing, lots of people, including Episcopalians seem to instinctively raise their hands during some hymns. For example, at the Convention we sang I the Lord of sea and sky. I looked about me during the refrain, “Here I am Lord. Is it I Lord?” Not only I but many around me had put down their bulletin and were in the orans posture. Another reason why the Eastern Christians – the Orthodox Church - continue to use the orans is because of its focus on the activity of the Holy Spirit – not on penitence.

Which leads me to ask, when worshipping God or praying to God, what were the postures of our ancestors – the Roman ? The focus of worship in the Western Church was on the forgiveness of sins. And what is a common posture when we seek forgiveness? (demonstrate)

But kneeling became a common posture at many points in the . It symbolized unworthiness, penitence, piety, and adoration of the “Blessed Sacrament” (Christ’s body and blood).

Scholars do not know when the practice of kneeling started. There is no evidence that early Christians did so; yet the Council of Nicea in the fourth century forbade kneeling, arguing that one shouldn’t kneel during Sunday worship since every Sunday is a little – a time to celebrate the risen Lord – to celebrate God’s forgiveness and our salvation.

A piece of trivia: the come into use in the 17th century; originally a low fence to protect the altar from irreverence by keeping out stray animals. Kneeling at this barrier to receive communion was not its original purpose, but once the practice was established, Altar Rails continued to be built just for this purpose even though there is no longer a danger of stray animals entering the chancel (which is not the case where I served in the Dominican Republic).

Another posture we inherited from the Roman Catholic Church was genuflecting. It is an alternative to the solemn bow but more restricted in use. A practice begun during the middle ages, genuflecting is a sign of reverence made to the or after elevating the host and or after the doxology. Its purpose is to recognize the sacred symbolism of the bread and wine. Nowadays, many worshippers genuflect prior to sitting in their pew, regardless of whether the Reserved Sacrament is present.

When worshipping God or praying to God, what were the postures of our ancestors – the ? All of the above! But as literacy increased, the orans posture was replaced by Standing. The practice of kneeling remained despite the Black Rubric - a declaration inserted in the 1552 Prayer Book to explain that the practice of kneeling to receive Holy Communion intended no adoration of any ‘real and essential presence’ of Christ’s natural flesh and blood. Since it was not a true rubric this declaration was printed in black and not (as it sometimes was) in red. (Rubric comes from Latin, ruber, meaning red. Rubrics were written instructions for who should be doing what during the Mass.)

The Black Rubric discouraged adoration of the Blessed Sacrament but it didn’t discourage kneeling as a posture for humility or penitence or petition.

When worshipping God or praying to God, what were the postures of our ancestors of the Episcopal Church? Still quite similar to the 1552 English Prayer Book…until the 1982 – our current book – which represents a transition from a theology of sin and Jesus’ death to a theology of Baptism and resurrection.

It also represents a movement back to our ancient roots and so, in its rubrics, it stresses standing over kneeling. Yet it acknowledges the need for a special posture during times of penitence or solemnity.

(pause)

So we have all these options to involve our body in worshipping and praying to God. What then shall we do? Whatever you feel called to do.

And when you bow or kneel or stand or genuflect, think not so much about what it means but what it does. What does your posture do in regard to your relationship with God? What does your posture do for your relationship with each other? What does your posture do for your relationship with yourself?